RAILWAYS AND THE ENVIRONMENT WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS Proceedings of the 2nd Railways and the Environment Workshop Held in Winnipeg, MB October 6-8, 2003 ISBN Number 1-894218-35-3 Transport Institute, University of Manitoba www.umti.ca Proceedings available in French upon request Railways and the Environment Workshop / L’Industrie Ferroviaire et L’Environnement TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ii Acknowledgements iv Conference Overview v CONFERENCE CHAIR WELCOME Bill Rowat, President and CEO, Railway Association of Canada 1 WELCOME TO WINNIPEG AND OPENING ADDRESS Tim Sale, Minister of Energy, Science & Technology, Province of Manitoba 3 SESSION 1: CANADA’S RAILWAYS TODAY AND TOMORROW Session Chair – Russ Robinson, Environment Canada 7 John Dobson, Transport Canada 7 Robert Lyman, Transport Canada 12 Gord Owen, Environment Canada 18 Robert Taylor, Railway Association of Canada 30 Lee Jebb, Cando Contracting 43 ADDRESS ON BEHALF ON ENVIRONMENT MINISTER DAVID ANDERSON Tim Hibbard, Director, Departmental Affairs, Environment Canada 44 SESSION 2: RAIL IN OTHER JURISTICTIONS Session Chair – Lionel King, Transport Canada 44 Robert Fronczak, Association of American Railroads 45 Terry Judge, Kim Hotstart Manufacturing Company 53 Chuck Moulis, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 60 Harry Gow, Transport 2000 Canada 69 SESSION 3: TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES AND BEST PRACTICES Session Chair – Grete Bridgewater, CPR 80 Martha Lenz, GM Electro-Motive 80 Eric Panet-Raymond, Bombardier Transportation 86 Arnold Miller, Vehicle Project LLC 92 Erika Akkerman, CN 101 Don Eadie, Kelsan Technologies Corp. 106 Steve Easun, ZTR Control Systems 116 SESSION 4: MODAL SHIFT AND INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION Session Chair – Richard Gilbert, Centre for Sustainable Transportation 123 Barry Craven, Canada Post 123 Gord Peters, Cando Contracting 130 Sabina Strautman, IKEA 136 John Spacek, Manitoba Transportation and Government Services 144 Jim Vena, CN 149 ii Railways and the Environment Workshop / L’Industrie Ferroviaire et L’Environnement SESSION 5: ALTERNATIVE DIRECTIONS FOR MOTIVE POWER Session Chair – John Spacek, Manitoba Transportation and Government Services 155 Frank Donnelly, RailPower Technologies Corp. 155 Robert Dunn, Consultant 163 Anthony Perl, University of Calgary 169 SESSION 6 PANEL: CANADIAN EMISSION STRATEGIES: ARE WE ON TRACK? Session Chair – Barry Prentice, University of Manitoba Transport Institute 179 Robert Taylor, Railway Association of Canada 179 Russ Robinson, Environment Canada 181 Robert Lyman, Transport Canada 187 Peter Eggleton, TELLIGENCE Group 189 CLOSING REMARKS Bill Rowat, President and CEO, Railway Association of Canada 201 Russ Robinson, Advisor, Sustainable Transportation, Environment Canada 202 List of Speakers and Participants 204 Speaker Biographies 207 iii Railways and the Environment Workshop / L’Industrie Ferroviaire et L’Environnement ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Workshop was made possible by the combined efforts and goodwill of people from the railway industry, academia, associated organizations, the Province of Manitoba and the federal government. Environment Canada offers its thanks to all concerned and wishes to acknowledge the particular assistance of the following individuals and organizations: The Workshop Steering Committee Joanna Bellamy – Environment Canada Roger Cameron – Railway Association of Canada Nicole Charron – Transport Canada Doug Duncan - University of Manitoba Transport Institute Harry Gow – Transport 2000 Lionel King – Transport Canada Mike Lowenger – Railway Association of Canada Anthony Perl – University of Calgary John Spacek – Manitoba Transportation and Government Services Terry Zdan – Manitoba Transportation and Government Services Workshop Chair Bill Rowat – President Railway Association of Canada Session Chairs and Speakers Identified in the proceedings Proceedings Prepared by The University of Manitoba Transport Institute iv Railways and the Environment Workshop / L’Industrie Ferroviaire et L’Environnement CONFERENCE OVERVIEW The second Railways and the Environment Workshop highlighted the fact that the rail industry provides the most fuel efficient and emissions friendly environment for moving freight in North America. Significant progress has been made by the railways over the past decade in traffic growth, productivity improvements and emissions reductions. The locomotive manufacturers have met the challenge of developing Tier 2 compliant locomotives. GM Electro-Motive is currently testing their SD70ACe Tier 2 compliant locomotive. The federal government has initiated programs to help the industry develop new technologies. Companies providing technical support to the rail industry have developed new technologies or refined existing technologies that offer tremendous potential for further fuel efficiency gains and emissions reductions. The rail industry has indicated that it is “On Track” in its efforts to reduce emissions. Overall, the rail industry has been successful in reducing CO2 emissions by 16% compared to 1980. However, as rail freight movement is likely to continue to grow over the next few years, this may place a strain on the energy efficiency gains the rail industry has already made. Observations made by industry representatives suggest that even greater gains could be achieved with the implementation of policies designed to further assist the industry. Industry representatives and others have suggested that what may be missing is a cohesive policy framework that maximizes the emission reduction opportunities that appear to be there. Canada’s Railways Today and Tomorrow The workshop opened with a review of “Straight Ahead – a vision for transportation in Canada.” Straight Ahead provides a policy framework for the continued success and balance of Canada’s transportation system. Overall, the transportation system in Canada is on track, is generally working well and not in need of major overhaul. Productivity growth in the transportation sector has been almost double that of the economy as a whole over the past ten years. Rail productivity has increased by up to 81% since 1981 with 75% of these gains transferred to shippers in the form of reduced rates. The system is fundamentally competitive and efficient. Market abuse is not systemic or widespread and most shippers are well served. One change that will be made is to enshrine respect for the environment in the National Transportation Policy statement of the Canada Transportation Act. Transportation represents 25% of Canada’s GHG emissions. The modal split is as follows: Road Vehicles - 71%, Off Road Vehicles - 13%, Aviation - 7%, Rail Freight - 4%, Marine - 4%, and Bus 1%. GHG’s for all transportation sectors are up 21% from 1990 to 1999. Emissions from the whole transportation industry are definitely not on track. However, about 63% of the increase can be attributed to road freight, while rail’s GHG emissions are down 1%. The Railway Association of Canada presented data on the growth in railway freight traffic over the last 15 years. There has been an explosion in for-hire truck traffic from 1991-2001, 112% (on a tonne-kilometre basis), much of it NAFTA related, while rail v Railways and the Environment Workshop / L’Industrie Ferroviaire et L’Environnement activity grew by 38%. Over the past 20 years the rail industry has experienced a continuous increase in activity. Total tonne-kilometres have increased 29% from 240 billion in 1980 to 310 billion in 2000. CO2 emissions are down 16% compared to 1980 and fuel efficiency has improved 38%. By 2000 rail moved about 66% of total freight tonne-kilometres in Canada and produced only 4% of transportation GHG emissions, with truck moving 34% of total freight tonne-kilometres and producing about 32% of GHG emissions. The rail industry has a key role to play in improving the overall environmental performance of the transport sector. Despite the efficiency improvements of the rail industry, rail is facing challenges to continue to reduce its GHG emissions and improve its efficiency while pursuing increased activities. Transport Canada, through the Federal government’s climate change initiatives, has put two programs in place to help the industry in this regard. The first is the Freight Efficiency and Technology Initiative, a program managed by Transport Canada. It is a $14 million 5-year initiative launched under Action Plan 2000 on Climate Change. The three main components include voluntary performance agreements, training and awareness initiatives and the Freight Sustainability Demonstration Program. The second is the Commercial Transportation, Energy Efficiency and Fuels Initiative, which is a four-year, $32 million program that will complement existing FETI. Environment Canada is responsible for Canada’s Clean Air Agenda. The Agenda was launched in May of 2000 and includes a focus on the transportation sector as part of Canada’s Agenda on Vehicles, Engines and Fuels. Generally, the intent is to align fairly closely to U.S. toxic emissions standards for vehicles, engines and fuels. Environment Canada is putting in place regulations for new on-road vehicles and engines and off-road engines and setting new standards for fuel quality. The approach is very much regulatory-based. Environment Canada and the Railway Association of Canada have an agreement on locomotive air emissions that takes effect from 1995 to 2005. The agreement sets a NOx cap of 115 kilotonnes per year. The Memorandum of Understanding includes reporting requirements for total fuel consumption, gross and net ton-miles,